Outrage Over The Photographs Of The United States Olympic Team
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- lumedia0
why would anyone feel sorry for the photographer? Its part of his job to understand the assignment and be prepared. You dont just show up to something like this without having at least 2-3 pre pro meetings with the client/crew.
Bottom line is that he probably let every single person involved give input and was trying to please too many people and shit just hit the fan.
- I can visualize that shoot, being an assistant taught me a lot, watching photographers deal with client whims...vaxorcist
- Amicus0
Isn't the real crime that they took BP's money enabling them to look a little less like cunts?
- vaxorcist0
Klamar was assuming he was going to be doing something completely different than what he was asked to do when he got there.... this sucks.. this can make you feel really manipulated... many clients have no fucking idea that they're asking you to do something completely different, after all, you're a "photographer" and all.... you end up feeling really bait-and-switched.... but you either do it or don't, I've learned how to adapt really fast, but it's not always what I'd love to do....
this "bait-and-switch" client miscommunication happens a LOT to some of us photographers, but to somebody who specializes like Klamar does, it's makes him a fish out of water....
He was under the assumption that he'd be doing headshots for archives where athletes were on a stage or press conference, this is COMPLETELY different from a setup insta-studio with backdrops arrangement.... poor guy really was bait-and-switched!
I do feel sorry for the guy... whoever the client contact was should really, really be paying some career price for this, having potentially really messed up Klamar's reputation now....
of course, he could have walked, and he probably didn't have any idea these images would be used for anything except an obscure archive somewhere.... viral-phobia of mediocre work is a HUGE fear for photographers now!
Note also that the better a photographer's public profile, the more likely he really, really specializes.... and may not know much about doing something out of his/her speciality.
- nb0
http://www.dpreview.com/news/201…
Quote:
Photographer Joe Klamar's portraits of US Olympic atheletes have caused a lot of controversy this week, especially in the USA. Reaction to the shots, taken for French photo agency AFP, has been varied, with many commentors dismissing his images as unprofessional at best, and at worst unpatriotic. Others have defended Klamar, arguing that his apparently unpolished images represent a deliberate attempt to challenge the conventions of portrait photography. The truth, it turns out, is more mundane. It seems Klamar was simply caught unprepared.According to Klamar, 'I was under the impression that I was going to be photographing athletes on a stage or during press conference where I would take their headshots for our archives [and] I really had no idea that there would be a possibility for setting up a studio'.
Responding to the negative reaction of some commentors to his work, Klamar has insisted that 'my only goal was to show [the athletes] as interesting, as special people who deserve their fame because they are the best [at] what they do. And for the little time we had together, they were willing to work with my concepts'.
- vaxorcist0
This might actually be a good wakeup call in our industry....
When the "which photographer to hire" decision making process is based on things like "well, he shot photos of celebrity x" rather than any actual understanding of how things work in this industry, clients end up with images like the ones they got.... It's not impossible to do great photos at a "cattle call" event, like Slappy said and showed above.. doing hundreds of images that are good is possible once you get your setup right and have the charisma to talk and get people to work with you....
I just finished a 4 day job shooting thousands of images covering a major association conference, we did quite a bit of hurried, last minute changes.. maybe this is the time to think of "event photographers" as being no longer so low on the totem pole of publication photo editors mindsets, just because we can work fast doesn't meen we work shittily.... putting a "celeb papparazzi" out of his element into a high speed shoot, where you have to light well, re-arrrange things at client whims constantly and get great facial expressions all at once is a trial by fire kind of thing ... and if you've done it before you can do it well, but if you've specialized in situations where everything is setup for you, you may flub the job like these images seem to indicate.....
well, maybe photo editors will wake up, and/or the upper-end peopel who laid off all the photo editors will realize they need some thoughts about photographers who can do specific things well, not just "well, he shot celebrities so he must be great!"
- brandelec0
- Its an agent!!!!74LEO
- Don't even bother trying to place, mister Anderson.cannonball1978
- chossy0
Here is a link to some more of the photos taken that day, the ones you guys have seen are the worst lot of the bunch, these other ones are better.
- Most of those were taken by other photographers thant he shots posted here though, article with credits http://www.telegraph…webazoot
- http://www.telegraph…webazoot
- inhaler970
Thats pretty awful. You can tell they didn't like their job, no attention to detail, poor craft. Reminds me of that Draplin design video about how american design is dead because they redid some motel sign in Blippo bold.
- slappy0
- Good stuff. They both look their best and you captured real emotion. 100 times better than the olympic shots.inteliboy
- They won't win gold though.orrinward2
- Thanks! The Olympic photos show a real lack of knowledge, it's beyond laziness! I do 400 of these in a night...slappy
- slappy you're right... the issue here is that a "celeb papparazzi" got hired, not a workingman real photographer... like you(!)vaxorcist
- mg330
OK, are these the OFFICIAL photos of the athletes that will be used for the Olympics, or are these just a collection of photos that one person took? Why did these photos make it out onto the web?
- MHDC0
- i_monk0
Hahahahahahaha